Gabe's Reckoning Read online

  Gabe’s Reckoning

  A Purgatory Masters Duet

  E.M. Gayle

  Gypsy Ink Books

  Contents

  Gabe’s Reckoning

  Don’t Miss Out

  Also by E.M. Gayle

  About This Book

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Epilogue

  Also by E.M. Gayle

  Books Writing As Eliza Gayle

  Gabe’s Reckoning

  Book Two of the Purgatory Masters Duet

  E.M. Gayle

  Copyright © 2018 by Eliza Gayle

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Visit my website at www.EMGayle.com.

  Don’t Miss Out

  Would you like to read the book that started it all for free and meet two more hot alphas? (yes, it’s a menage!)

  Click here to sign up for my newsletter and claim your free book!

  Want to be the first to know about upcoming sales and new releases?

  Follow me on BookBub!

  I’d love to hear from you. Connect with me at:

  Website: www.EMGayle.com

  Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

  Also by E.M. Gayle

  Purgatory Masters Series:

  TUCKER'S FALL (also available in paperback & audio)

  LEVI'S ULTIMATUM (also available in paperback & audio)

  MASON'S RULE (Also available in Paperback & audio)

  GABE’S OBSESSION

  GABE’S RECKONING

  Purgatory Club:

  ROPED (also available in audio)

  WATCH ME (also available in audio)

  TEASED

  BURN

  BOTTOMS UP

  HOLD ME CLOSE (also available in paperback)

  What Alex Wants Duet:

  WHAT ALEX WANTS HE GETS

  WHAT ALEX WANTS HE TAKES

  Pleasure Playground Series:

  PLAY WITH ME (also available in paperback & audio)

  POWER PLAY (also available in paperback)

  Single Title:

  TAMING BEAUTY

  About This Book

  Book Two of the Purgatory Masters Duet

  A lie. It’s all been a lie. Now she has to run.

  Screw that. Gabe has staked his claim and hell if he’s going to let that go. She. Is. His.

  She can run, but she sure as hell can’t hide. If she’s gone, then so is he.

  Purgatory can go to…well, hell.

  Nina should have read the prenup they signed a little closer. He made it clear he didn’t want her money, but he also made it crystal that she belonged to him in ways she hasn’t even thought of yet.

  And who their parents are doesn’t change one damned thing. Neither does murder. If she’s got blood on her hands he DOES NOT care.

  But the lies DO have to stop. One way or another this family has to come clean. Even if it costs them everything.

  Chapter 1

  Gabe Michaels stared at the door to his office that Nina, his new wife for all of a whopping twenty-two hours, had just slammed out of after telling them all to go fuck themselves. Part of him wanted to charge after her and make her listen to what he had to say. And part of him still couldn't comprehend what had just happened.

  As much as they needed to talk right now, there was someone else he had to deal with first. Shutting down the emotions for the woman he'd impulsively married after learning she was saving herself for a committed relationship, he turned and faced the room of shell-shocked witnesses.

  Mason, his boss, mentor, and supposed friend reacted first. “Well, that didn’t go well.”

  Gabe’s eyes narrowed at the man he thought he knew. “Shut the hell up. This is your fault.”

  Mason’s face darkened. “My fault? Fuck you, Michaels. If you hadn’t broken your promise this never would have happened. I never wanted her to know all this shit and I especially didn't want her to ever find out like this.”

  Gabe shook his head before turning to the rest of the occupants in the room. He’d deal with Mason in private. As if on cue, his secretary picked up on his unspoken wishes as soon as their gazes met. She turned to the two Doms still standing by his desk who had at some point released their submissive from her shackles and covered her in one of his many care blankets he kept in a basket near his desk.

  “Gentlemen, I think that’s our cue to take our leave. If you’d like, I can escort you to one of the other private rooms for your use."

  Leo, one of the regular Purgatory riggers turned to Gabe. “Are we done here then?”

  Gabe nodded. The previous all-important issue of their submissive Katie breaking discretionary protocol no longer seemed so dire. Not with Nina gone to God knows where and the emotional bombshell of both of their parentage still ricocheting through his mind.

  It had taken less than sixty seconds to flip his world upside down.

  “What exactly was going on here anyway?” Mason asked.

  Gabe stared at him unseeing anything other than a man who had lied to him over and over for years. The betrayal of a long friendship that threatened to choke him now. And he wasn’t about to accept him omitting the truth wasn’t technically a lie. A lie was a god damn lie and as lies go, this one had been a doozy.

  Finally, he shrugged. “Private issue. It’s over now.”

  The submissive between the two Doms whimpered. Probably grateful for the interruption that saved her from further punishment. Although if he knew Leo and Quinn, and he did, they were far from done. He had no doubt that Katie would not break club protocol again.

  And if he hadn't been an arrogant jackass, he could have avoided this scene altogether and never allowed Nina to visit Savannah alone. There were so many things he could have done differently to change the clusterfuck of today.

  Mason’s eyes narrowed and Gabe half hoped the man might push for more. Let him push. He’d end up with a hell of a lot more than he bargained for. It didn’t matter that Mason stood a couple of inches taller than him, or that he had a mean streak that made for a formidable opponent. They’d trained together more than once and Gabe already knew he could hold his own. Add in the rage whipping through his blood and he had no doubt he’d best the fucker.

  When the door finally closed behind the last of his other guests, Gabe turned his attention solely to Mason.

  “That is really what you wanted? For Nina to never know the truth? You really are an asshole, you know that? Di
d it never dawn on you that knowing that bastard Reverend wasn’t her biological father might have made her happier? She’s lived in agony for more than a decade. Hell, probably longer than that believing all the lies you people have force fed her. What the fuck is wrong with you? Why is the truth such a difficult answer?”

  “You should be careful what you say here. You don’t know shit about what I’ve had to do to protect this family. And now that the cards are out on the table you should know that includes you. In fact, I’ve done everything in my power to protect her and every other defacto sibling I’ve uncovered. You think my job is easy? Just fuck you, man. You don't understand shit."

  "Right now I don't care about me and I certainly don't care about what you've been through. It's all about her," his voice rose with every word. "She's been traumatized. How do you know the truth wouldn't have changed whatever it is she's got locked up in her head? Maybe had she known he was not her father, whatever happened that day wouldn't have happened and we all wouldn't be walking around on eggshells afraid this little house of cards you've built wasn't about to implode?"

  The dark look Mason shot him would have likely cut down any other man. But he'd seen and done enough. He would no longer accept any more bullshit from this family.

  "I didn't know he wasn't her father back then. Hell, I wasn't even sure I knew anything back then. It was all a damned guess until after he died and Victor came to me." Mason took another step closer, his face twisting with anger. "It's true I'm a bastard. I know this just as well as you do. Even Rebecca knows that and for some unknown reason, she still loves me. But—and this you'd better get through your thick skull right now—I do love my family. All of them, and that will always include Nina." He hesitated a moment before he continued, his face dark with his own rage. "Now don't get me wrong, I've never been the best when it comes to the whole love thing. I've screwed that up plenty of times. Yet, I still do everything in my power to hold us all together. That's what I do and it's what I will do until I die, no matter the cost."

  Some of the anger deflated from Gabe. He didn't like it, but it was a relief to know that Mason couldn't have done anything to prevent their father's death and Nina's pain. But this family was falling apart at the seams and maybe, just maybe...

  "Maybe you need to rethink your stance on the whole damned thing." Gabe fought at the nausea his thoughts were giving him. "Maybe this family is cursed. You ever think about that?"

  "That's ridiculous. I don't believe in curses."

  Gabe shook his head. "You don't have to take that literally. But, maybe this family doesn't need a puppet master anymore. You ever think of that? You say you've done nothing but fight to keep them together. Well, maybe they don't need or want to stay together anymore. Let it go, Mason. I'm starting to believe that together we're all toxic. I'm all for togetherness, but sadly that doesn't work in every case. Sometimes the best course of action is to go your separate ways."

  Too angry to continue, he slammed out of his office and headed towards the building exit. He'd said all he had to say on this subject. What really mattered to him was finding his wife. There were more than a few things he needed to say to her and it was time to set the record straight and spank her ass red while he was at it.

  Chapter 2

  Nina huddled in a big fluffy chair in the corner of her best friend Tori's living room, clutching the toss pillow to her chest. It was hard to believe that only hours had passed since she'd embarked on a new adventure that she had hoped would change her life.

  Then, of course, her life had reared up and slapped her back down. Silly thinking on her part that she could ever escape the nightmare of her reality. She sighed.

  On the outside things had probably looked pretty rosy. She’d been an independent woman living the American dream of owning her own business with a solid group of friends and family who had her back when she needed them and vice versa.

  Except...

  It was all lies.

  Somewhere along the line, she’d begun hating having to work in the cafe with a vehemence that shocked her and most of the time she never wanted to go back. If not for her love of experimenting in the kitchen she would have gone insane by now. But even that had lost its sparkle in recent months.

  Years ago she’d been attracted to it because she needed money to live on and the cafe had practically been handed to her at a steal. That the property included a small cottage for her to live in at no additional cost had pretty much sealed the deal for her. So she’d gone for it.

  Of course, she'd never told anyone what she'd done to afford the place, to begin with. Mason had offered her money, which she'd refused. At the time she hadn't needed it. What she couldn’t scrape from her savings, Tucker had loaned from his art business. Memories she'd buried deep threatened to come out and send her back to a very dark place. She almost laughed out loud.

  Who was she kidding? She lived in a dark place. Her mind's recesses had recesses and they all held a multitude of secrets.

  Now it was up to her once again to pick up the tattered pieces and move on. Except this time, she needed to make a big change. A small business to run wasn’t going to cut it anymore. While she didn't have all the logistics figured out, far from it, there were two things she knew for certain. She needed to leave this crazy town once and for all and she had to turn over the cafe to her best friend.

  As if on cue, Tori walked back into the room. "So sorry about that. Hannah isn't feeling great today and she needs her mommy more than usual."

  Nina went to stand. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean to get in your way. Go back to your baby. I can see myself out."

  Tori's eyes narrowed and she gave her a suspicious look. "Nope. She fell asleep while I was in there, so you now have my undivided attention. Now go ahead and sit back down and tell me what's going on. I can see it's something serious."

  "I'm not sure I know where to start."

  Tori sat across from her on the couch, tucking one leg under her butt as she always did. Ready to dig into whatever had happened. That she could almost read her like a book amazed her. But over the time since she'd gotten to know the other woman, it hadn't been easy to keep the darker parts of her past away.

  "How about at the beginning? Since I've got a sick kid home from school and Levi is out of town until later tonight sourcing some cool tile for his house remodel, I'm all yours."

  "Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time. Gabe's going to come looking for me and eventually he'll come here. I need to be gone before then."

  One of Tori's eyebrows raised. "And why would you not want Gabe to find you? He's your go-to guy for everything."

  Nina threw up her hands. "Oh my God, Tori, I temporarily lost my mind and now it is so complicated. And ugly and twisted. But, well, the gist is." She thrust her hands into her hair and pulled, trying to get the courage to tell her friend all of the details.

  "Just say it. Whatever it is you gotta rip it out like you rip off a band-aid. There just ain't no other way if it's stressing you out this bad."

  "Gabe and I got married."

  Tori squealed, jumping up from her seat. "What? Holy shit. No way."

  Nina panicked, looking towards both the door and Hannah's bedroom.

  "Fuck," Tori lowered her voice to a whisper. "I guess I gotta be a little quieter, huh? But oh mah GOD! You have to start spilling the details. Every last one. I'm going to explode over here. TELL ME!"

  She wanted to smile and jump for joy and bathe in her friend's excitement over this news. But that was impossible now. Their hours-long marriage had crashed and burned quicker than it began.

  "It's not good. I got in over my head."

  "Of course you did. It's Gabe. The man has freaking loved you forever and you've been in love with him just as long. Wait. How did this happen? Does anyone else know? Please tell me Mason doesn’t know. I want to see his face when he finds out."

  Oh boy. This was definitely marching into the land of weird. "One minute we were talking a
bout how he wanted to help me access my forgotten memories and somehow I kind of told him that I've never had intercourse with a man. The next thing I know he's driving us to the courthouse and we got married."

  For a second Tori stared at her in stunned silence. Then she started laughing. And not a little tinkle haha laugh either. Nope. She laughed so hard tears started coming out of her eyes and she grabbed her stomach too.

  Nina leaned forward and put her head in her hands. She had no idea how Tori thought this was funny when her insides were shredded over this. Maybe she needed to get to the hard part.

  "I'm leaving town. Long story short, I found out some stuff, said a bunch of really mean shit and then I basically capped that off by telling Gabe he could go fuck himself. Now I'm handing over the cafe to you. It's time for me to try something new."

  Tori's laughter died instantly. "Wait. What? Girl, you are giving me whiplash with this conversation. Okay, let's back up. First things first. You married Gabe and then told him he could go fuck himself? You cannot drop that bomb and not explain yourself. Why in the hell would you do that?"